Block and Pastrana wrap up Rally America Championship

Victory on this weekend’s Lake Superior Performance Rally for P-WRC driver Ken Block and a podium for Travis Pastrana secured the Subaru Rally Team USA duo first and second place in the 2008 Rally America National Championship.
The event was the 9th and final round of the American Championship and covered 197 miles of special stages along the northern tip of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Block and his co-driver Alex Gelsomino started the rally locked in a battle for second overall in the championship with young privateer Subaru driver Kyle Sarasin and Canadian driver Andrew Comrie-Picard.
Block's 2008 domestic season has been one of ups and downs; after a strong start with multiple wins he later experienced a string of poor results and misfortune which helped Pastrana take control of the series. On the Lake Superior rally, however, Block and his co-driver Alex Gelsomino returned to form and were virtually untouchable in their Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Block took the lead on the first stage and went on to win 11 of 17 stages and finish with a lead of more than one minute. The result concluded a successful domestic season for Block and Pastrana who between them won six of the nine events.
"I'm glad to end the season with the win. Now I've got some momentum going into next year, so I'm very happy," said Block. "It's great for the team to finish 1-2 in the Championship, and we have proven the new 2008 STI can win, next year it will only get better."
After mathematically securing the championship at the previous round in Colorado, Pastrana entered the rally with little pressure to win. So to further his development he requested American rally legend John Buffum co-drive for him at this final Rally America round. Buffum is the most successful American rally driver of all time, with 11 championship titles to his name and over 120 rally wins.
Starting 3rd on the road, the duo was slowed by heavy dust as well as a puncture early in the event. Pastrana settled for third overall while Block and Sarasin continued to push each other for the overall victory.
"I had the pleasure of teaming up with rally legend John Buffum. I think he has forgotten more about rally than I will ever know! It was amazing just having him in the car," explained Pastrana. "Although we weren't fighting for the win, it's impossible to not have fun on these Michigan roads."
After finishing 13th in the P-WRC competition on his last WRC outing in New Zealand, Block will be back in his Impreza on the forthcoming Rally Japan.

Headlines online: Oct 21, 2008

Malaysiakini compares the key news and views in major newspapers. What is today's agenda for the English, Bahasa, Tamil and Chinese papers?
MCPXFront PageEnglish newspapersNew Straits Times led with deputy premier Najib Abdul Razak’s office denying the contents of Malaysiakini report on manifesto initially attributed to him in his capacity as deputy Umno president. Star headlined Najib’s announcement that an additional RM5 billion will be pumped into the market to support undervalued stocks, and the government will continue spending on public projects to boost the economy. The economic growth forecast will also be revised.Malay newspapersUtusan Malaysia also led with measures to curb economic problems. Berita Harian headlined the dismissal of the report on Najib’s purported manifesto.Tamil newspapersMalaysia Nanban focused on the sedition trial of Hindraf leader P Uthayakumar.Tamil Nesan looked at the continuing conflict in Sri Lanka.Makkal Osai reported on the commotion by Hindraf supporters before the start of Uthayakumar's trial.EditorialNew Straits Times urged health authorities to protect the people and penalise companies that import food products that contain melanine.Utusan Malaysia stated that the government's crisis-aversion measures was timely preparation in view of the volatility of the global market.Berita Harian commented on the government’s decision to revise the economic growth rate.Malaysia Nanban hopes that the new MCA leadership will succeed in reforming the party.Tamil Nesan called for prudence in expenditure in view of the potential for economic problems.Makkal Osai commented on the revival of the government's intention to set up a media council.

Khalid: Bad past has cost Selangor RM30 billion

Selangor’s Pakatan Rakyat government alleged that the state could have made up to RM30 billion ringgit in revenue - if not for corruption under the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) administration.
MCPX
Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, tabling his budget speech in the state legislature this morning, claimed that the losses were due to “dishonesty, irresponsibility and the lack of transparency” when BN ran the state.

“One example is the release of state land free of charge or with a trade-off, instead of directly developing the land which would have been more profitable,” he said.

State welfare, according to Khalid, was never a priority for his predecessor Dr Mohd Khir Toyo (right), while the ‘zero-squatters’ policy was not about housing development for the poor but to “enrich” some groups.

“The real motive behind the zero-squatter policy was to clear the land to be given to private companies through land development joint-venture enterprise,” he said.

Khalid added that these contracts were given to private companies directly without going through an open tender process, thereby benefitting companies that were incapable of implementing the projects.

“(Contrary to what Umno claims) these policies do not provide business opportunities to the Malays,” he added.

Although Selangor was awarded developed state status in 2005, Khalid said cannot be attributed to the previous government’s policies.

“The development was influenced by regional market trends that encouraged foreign investors like Intel, Motorola, Sony and Matsushita to invest in the state.”

Khalid claimed that the lack of transparency in the distribution of contracts has led to the ballooning of infrastructure costs - roads and public buildings - in the state.

Eye on GLC heads

Chief executive officers of government-linked companies (GLCs) involved in the joint-venture projects also be held accountable for this, he said, and not just Mohd Khir.

“Since we assumed power, the CEOs of these GLCs - when asked to clarify - could not rationalise their decisions which are lopsided against the state. Without shame, they placed the blame on the former MB,” he said.

Khalid was referring to Permodalan Negeri Selangor Bhd, Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor and Perbadanan Kemajuan Pertanian Selangor.

Despite this the CEOs have been allowed to keep their jobs for several reasons.

“We want them to redeem their mistakes and recover the money they lost due to corruption. We will sack them if they cannot do so and we’ll take further action (as well),” he said.

Efforts to clean up the administration are underway, but there are some aspects that require more attention.

“For example I have received complaints that people in the previous government are still seated in tender panels and continue to abuse their position,” he added.

“We will deal with this by directing tender panels in local councils to practise an open tender system that is open to all members of the public.”

ROSSI CHAMPIONS AGAINS.....

19oct2008,Valentino Rossi win motor world GP at sepang,he take back the title from stoner last year.

World champion Valentino Rossi earned his ninth victory of the season at the Malaysian MotoGP on Sunday, edging past Dani Pedrosa to win a thrilling race.

Rossi started from second on the grid on his Yamaha and stuck close to Pedrosa of Spain, who rode a Honda from pole position.

The Italian rider took the lead on lap ten before cruising to comfortable victory in 43 minutes, 6.007 seconds.

Rossi extended his streak to eight consecutive podium finishes, with a shot at one more during next weekend's season finale in Valencia.

Nearing the end of his maiden MotoGP season, Andrea Dovizioso of Italy came in third after a close battle with American Nicky Hayden.


MALAYSIAN MOTORCYLE GRAND PRIX RESULTS

SEPANG, Malaysia (AP) - Results from Sunday's Malaysian Motorcyle Grand Prix at the 5.548-kilometer (3.45 mile) Sepang Circuit (with rider, country, motorcycle and time):

x-clinched championship

MOTOGP

1. Valentino Rossi, Italy, Yamaha, 43 minutes, 06.007 seconds

2. Dani Pedrosa, Spain, Honda, 43:10.015

3. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy, Honda, 43:14.543

4. Nicky Hayden, United States, Honda, 43:14.865

5. Shinya Nakano, Japan, Honda, 43:16.590

6. Casey Stoner, Australia, Ducati, 43:19.647

7. Loris Capirossi, Italy, Suzuki, 43:21.943

8. Colin Edwards, United States, Yamaha, 43:24.809

9. Chris Vermeulen, Australia, Suzuki, 43:29.181

10. Randy de Puniet, France, Honda, 43:31.523

Overall Standings

1. x-Valentino Rossi, Italy 357 points.

2. Casey Stoner, Australia, 255.

3. Dani Pedrosa, Spain, 229.

4. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain, 182.

5. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy, 161.

6. Nicky Hayden, United States, 144.

7. Colin Edwards, United States, 134.

8. Chris Vermeulan, Australia, 125.

9. Shinya Nakano, Japan, 117.

10. Loris Capirossi, Italy, 111.

"Max Payne" shoots to top of box office roster

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Action-packed "Max Payne" shot its way to the top of the North American box office, grossing $18 million during the video game adaptation's first weekend in theaters, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

The dark, atmospheric film, which stars Mark Wahlberg as a cop in search of the men who killed his wife and child, outshone Oliver Stone's much-talked-about "W.," which debuted at No. 4 with a take of $10.6 million.

"The estimates for 'W.' were all over the place," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "You can't really expect that a politically charged movie like that would take the weekend over a big video game adaptation with a movie star in the lead role."

"Max Payne" follows in the footsteps of games turned into films including the "Tomb Raider" movies starring Angelina Jolie, which were commercial hits but critically clobbered by gamers.

Stone's portrait of U.S. President George W. Bush was released by Lionsgate, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

Walt Disney Co's family comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" was kicked to the No. 2 spot with a take of $11.2 million, bringing its total receipts to $69.1 million.

The civil rights era movie "The Secret Life of Bees," which is based on a best-selling novel, was a close No. 3, debuting with take of $11.1 million for the weekend.

"Max Payne" was released by 20th Century Fox and "The Secret Life of Bees" by Fox Searchlight, both units of News Corp.

The action thriller "Eagle Eye" slipped to the No. 5 spot on the list with a take of $7.3 million, bringing its total so far to $81.3 million.

"Eagle Eye" was released by DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.

Summit Entertainment's teen comedy "Sex Drive," debuted at No. 9 on the weekend roster with a total of $3.6 million.

(Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Bill Trott)

Wall Street eyes earnings, looking for

NEW YORK (AP) -- With little question the U.S. is in the grips of a recession, investors this week will lean on a stream of earnings and economic reports to help determine exactly how prolonged and painful the downturn might be.
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There's certainly been fresh evidence the credit market has begun to thaw. But, that alone might not be enough to restore confidence in the stock market at a time when investors are clamoring for stronger signs of a bottom.

Trying to predict a floor for major U.S. stock market indexes has proven to be a difficult task. Wall Street ended a volatile two-week run fairly stable on Friday, and there were indications that bank-to-bank lending rates eased and that some companies returned to the bond market to raise cash.

Those indicators might have previously been enough to reassure anxious investors that the worst is over for the stock market. However, amid a financial crisis not seen for decades, analysts still remain cautious.

"If you can survive the whiplash of this bottom formation, then stocks look ridiculously cheap," said Edward Yardeni, president and market analyst at Yardeni Research. "But, there are bigger questions. Investors still want to see the light of day in this credit crisis, and they want to know if the current recession will be relatively short and shallow."

He said the biggest question facing Wall Street is whether the stock market's current levels have priced in all the pain that goes along with a recession. Indexes could slip even further if the market is sideswiped by a disappointing batch of economic news or dour corporate reports.

Sunday evening, stock index futures signaled a slightly higher open. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 54, or 0.61 percent, to 8,825. Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose 7.30, or 0.78 percent, to 940.50; while Nasdaq-100 futures rose 7.00, or 0.53 percent, to 1,318.

It was impossible to tell whether the market would hold at those levels by the time trading resumes Monday. Markets in Asia and Europe could set the tone for the start of the week in the U.S., and any news developments before the opening bell on Wall Street will ultimately determine how U.S. stocks fare.

Traders return to work Monday with a bit of history lingering over the session. Sunday marked the anniversary of the 1987 stock market crash known as "Black Monday." The Dow plunged 22.6 percent that day to mark the largest one-session percentage decline ever.

The blue chip index that tracks 30 of America's biggest companies will begin trading Monday at the 8,852.22 level, down a stunning 37.5 percent from its record closing high of 14,164.53 set Oct. 9, 2007. Analysts remain mixed over whether the roller-coaster trading of recent weeks is a sign of capitulation, a Wall Street term that indicates a sense of despair among investors that's a perquisite to a rebound.

The last time Wall Street reached such a cathartic level was during the last bear market, when the Dow fell 37.8 percent from a close of 11,722.98 on Jan. 14, 2000, to 7,286.27 on Oct. 9, 2002. However, then investors didn't have to worry about a recession blocking a rebound.

Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank, said the biggest signs that a bottom has formed will be how investors react to bad news this coming week. He believes investors have engaged in "slash and burn selling" with all the news converging at once, and a change in that pattern will be telling.

"I think the bad economic data and earnings are already priced in to an extent," he said. "What I'm looking for is a disconnect with investors where bad economic news or a bad earnings report is greeted by a rally, that will be telling about which direction we're heading."

Ablin points out that earnings reports and economic data are mostly backward looking, and in most cases reflect conditions before the meltdown hit its peak in the past few months. He's interested in what chief executives have to say about their companies going forward.

The consensus among many analysts is that companies will begin to curtail their projections for the fourth quarter because of deteriorating growth. There have been a number of reports already out from companies like Google Inc. and Honeywell International Inc. that overall have not been as bad as feared.

This week, a larger breadth of America's business community are set to release results. Among them are Dow components' AT&T Inc., Caterpillar Inc., 3M Co., Boeing Co., Microsoft Corp., and McDonald's Corp. Others include Amazon.com Inc., UPS Inc., and Altria Group Inc.

Economic reports this week include September's index of leading U.S. economic indicators on Monday. Other big reports include Thursday's weekly U.S. jobless claims and Friday's report on existing home sales.

Investors might also get a better idea about what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke thinks about the credit and stock markets. He is scheduled to testify at a house Budget Committee hearing about the economy and financial markets.

"All of this could extend the extraordinary volatility we've been seeing," Yardeni said. "But, some would say that's actually a sign we're making a bottom, as painful as it is."

Islamic banking escapes fallout of global financial crunch

Islamic banking has largely escaped the fallout from the global financial crisis, thanks to rules that forbid the sort of risky business that is felling mainstream institutions.

MCPXBut experts say that because of its heavy reliance on property investments and private equity, the booming 1.0 trillion dollar global industry could be hit if the turmoil worsens and real assets start to crumble.

"In the current financial turmoil, it is interesting to note that Islamic financing may have prevented a majority of the mess created by the conventional banking and financial institutions," Kuwait Finance House said in a report.

"The outlook for Islamic financing is bright and will likely take the lead in terms of providing funding for major projects as the conventional banking system reevaluates its business model."

The rules of Islamic banking and finance - which incorporate principles of syariah or Islamic law - read like a how-to guide on avoiding the kind of disaster that is currently gripping world markets.

Islamic law prohibits the payment and collection of interest, which is seen as a form of gambling, so highly complex instruments such as derivatives and other creative accounting practices are banned.

Transactions must be backed by real assets - not shady repackaged subprime mortgages - and because risk is shared between the bank and the depositor there is an incentive for the institutions to ensure the deal is sound.

Investors have a right to know how their funds are being used, and the sector is overseen by dedicated supervisory boards as well as the usual national regulatory authorities.

There will be an impact

"Islamic banking has, thus far, remained positive, despite the current challenging global financial environment," said Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the central bank governor of Malaysia, which is Southeast Asia's leader in Islamic banking.

Zeti said this month that because of the slowing global economy, plans for Islamic "sukuk" bonds had been postponed or scrapped by companies including Kuwait's Abyaar Real Estate Development Co and Malaysia's Perisai Petroleum.

And Jennifer Chang, a partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Kuala Lumpur, said that given the extent of the global crisis, Islamic banks may suffer damage despite their strong position.

"Islamic banks, especially in the Middle East, got heavily into private equity and real estate investments, and a lot of loans may be backed by properties. So if the property market goes down, there will be an impact," she said.

"If a borrower is not able to pay then the bank will foreclose and the question is - can you sell the property in the market and at what value? These are issues which all banks can face."

There have been calls for the conventional banking industry to take a leaf out of the book of Islamic finance, which also shuns investments in gaming, alcohol and pornography in favour of ethical investments.

Influential Sunni cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi earlier this month called on Muslims to take advantage of the turmoil to build an economic system compatible with Islamic principles.

"The collapse of the capitalist system based on usury and paper and not on goods traded on the market is proof that it is in crisis and shows that Islamic economic philosophy is holding up," said the Egyptian-born, Qatar-based cleric.

No safe harbours

In recent years the sector has broken out of its niche and been embraced by mainstream banks. As well as basic bank deposits and investment accounts, it has expanded into areas including equity funds, bonds and Islamic hedge funds.

Abhishek Kumar, a senior research analyst at Financial Insights, a company under market research and analysis firm International Data Corp (IDC), said recent events may further boost the sector.

"More and more institutions will be interested in providing Islamic services to diversify their risk portfolio," he said, while warning that in the current financial storm there were no absolutely safe harbours.

"We're not really sure what the real extent of the impact is, and whether we've passed the worst of it or not, But the extent is not going to be as bad as in the mainstream sector," he said.

-AFP

Ex-CPM member Shamsiah Fakeh dies

Nationalist, woman rights activist and ex-communist guerrilla Shamsiah Fakeh passed away due to old age this morning at 9am. She was 84.
MCPX
Shamsiah has been unwell for some time now and was most recently admitted to the UKM Hospital in Cheras last week.

She will be buried at the Sungai Besi Muslim cemetery this evening after the Asar prayers.

Shamsiah was born in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan and became politically active during her student days.

During the height of nationalism right after the second world war, Shamsiah led the women's wing Angkatan Wanita Sedar (Awas) in Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya in 1946.

And upon the ban on PKMM in 1848 by the British, she joined the 10th regiment of the Communist Party of Malaya. This regiment was predominantly made up of Malays.

As a communist guerrilla, Shamsiah spend eight years in the jungle fighting the authorities.

She eventually fled Malaysia to Indonesia and Vietnam first before eventually ending in China.

She officially left CPM in 1968 but remained in China, working in a steel factory before appealing to the Malaysian government in mid-80s to be allowed to return home.

She and her family were finally allowed to return to Malaysia in 1994. She returned to Malaysia after an absence of 40 years, along with her husband, their three sons and their four grandchildren.

In 2004, she wrote about her experience in CPM in a Bahasa Malaysia book ‘Memoir Shamsiah Fakeh - Dari AWAS ke Rejimen ke 10'.

A new edition and a Chinese language edition was published in 2007